Organization of the Islamic Conference calls on media to suppress the truth

On 2 December 2008, the General Secretariat of the OIC released a statement that is utterly breathtaking in its duplicity. The statement is entitled “Islam, the Religion of peace, tolerance and compassion”. It begins:“With the multiplicity of terrorist attacks perpetrated recently by deviant and fanatic individuals, the General Secretariat of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has noticed a tendency of a section of the media, to interpose the word “Islam” in reporting these incidences.”“Noted a tendency”? Why ever could this possibly be? Could it perhaps be because the terrorists shout “Allahu Akbar!” when launching their attacks? Or leave video testimonies calling for all Muslims to join them in a Holy War against the infidel while calling for the establishment of a global caliphate? Might this perhaps have misled some commentators into believing that these “deviant and fanatic individuals” have something to do with Islam? Or, perhaps they have been misled by the slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood: “Death in the path of Allah is the greatest glory” into thinking that Allah has something to do with Islam.

The OIC statement continues:“Islam, the religion of peace, tolerance and compassion, that sanctifies the human soul, and whose universal message is one of mutual peaceful coexistence among all the peoples of the world, regardless of their ethnicities, race, religions, and which calls for kind reasoning and dialogue with all their fellow human beings, abhors and despises all such criminal acts and had enacted the utmost severe punishment for their perpetrators.”But peaceful co-existence with non-Muslims only ever applies as long as they show their submission to Islam by paying the jizya, protection money, and accept their state of dhimmitude, and maybe not even then. Evidence the million Jews who have been forced from their homes in Arab lands and the 400,000 Christians who have been driven from Iraq by Islamists (who of course have nothing to do with Islam) since the American-led invasion.

The statement goes on:“It is frustrating to see some circles, still, maliciously trying to establish conceptual link between such evil and wicked practices and Islam, the religion that condemns, scorns and outlaws them.”Er, but excuse me: this “conceptual link” is being made by the terrorists themselves. Is it no longer permissible to report this fact? Is the reporting of this fact to be taboo? Is denying reality part of the price we must pay for our submission to Islam? And where did the terrorists learn to make this “conceptual link”? Could it conceivably have been in the mosques and madrassas which teach Islam to these impressionable young people?

It continues:“It is on the premise of this irrefutable fact (er, sorry, just refuted it) that we, in the OIC, call upon all well-intentioned peoples of the world, not to give to these criminals any right to present Islam, a right that Islam itself denies them.”Sorry, I think I must have misread that. Millions of young Muslims are being taught that violent jihad is central to Islam. They are being taught it in schools funded by Saudi Arabia, the heartland of Islam. They are being taught hatred of Jews, of infidels and of the West in Islamic schools. Yet the OIC has the bare-faced gall to lie about this unquestionable fact. Masters of taqqiya indeed.

“Those who refer to the perpetrators, as acting on behalf of Islam, help them by offering them justification, anchor and premise that they don’t have or deserve.” May we suggest the OIC explain this to the Saudis, to the Wahabis, to the Salafists, to the Deobanda and to the Muslim Brotherhood who are doing just that in videos and speeches, on radio and TV, and in madrassas and mosques around the world.

“On the other hand, the generalization of the guilt of a few aberrant misguided individuals, to engulf the adherents of a religion of 1.5 billion followers is an outrageous judgment … “Well it would certainly be wrong to describe all Muslims as supporters of terrorism when there clearly are many who oppose terrorism and Islamic extremism in general. But in some states these liberals are actually in the minority. According to a recent report by the Pew Research Group in several countries a majority of young Muslims support al Quaida and the concept of violent jihad. And by the way, collective punishment implies that someone is being punished. At last count it was the victims of Islamic terror who were being collectively punished, not Muslims.
And finally the coup de grace, the icing on the cucumber:“Moreover, any attempt to implicate all Muslims in such a wicked and wanton acts goes contrary to the well established principles of international law.” This is the purest nonsense. No-one, no government nor any individual as far as I am aware, has ever attempted to implicate “all Muslims” in these acts in any legal process in any court in the world.

“It is therefore hoped that media will avoid resorting to any reference to Islam when narrating such events in order not to disseminate erroneous information that might jeopardize the basic human rights of Muslims, the world over.” The media are being asked not to report the facts about terrorism carried out in the name of Islam. Unpleasant though this may seem, and however difficult it may be for the PIC to swallow, the press have a responsibility to report the facts as they see them, and this must including the words and deeds of the terrorists. Respect for the truth, for facts, must come first. To deny the facts and to silence freedom of expression is the first step along the road to tyranny.